Our fussy eater

I have blogged sevaral times on Lucas' eating habits. Its always a big worry for Fred and I that Lucas doesn't seem to enjoy "normal" foods. He is such a difficult feeder that I find my enthusiasm for preparing meals wanning.

Our family doctor has asked us to cut down on Lucas' milk intake - Lucas takes 200 ml of milk (mixed with 1/2 teaspoon honey and 50 ml yoghurt or 2 spoons of applesauce) in the mornings. I have since cut off his afternoon bottle to encourage him to eat solid food. His nightime milk is 240 ml milk mixed with 8 oz fortified baby cereal - this is given to him an hour before bedtime.

In between proper meals, Lucas tends to snack a lot. I have since hidden all the "junk" food and tried to move up his mealtimes to an earlier hour though that means he eats before Fred comes home from work.

Lucas will eat the following (in small portions) - pizza, pasta with tomato or cream but he picks out all the meat, peas, mushrooms and carrots I put inside, risotto with cheese, grated cheese, chicken nuggets, french fries, quiche, grilled cheese sandwich, rice with chicken curry (again, he picks out all the potatoes and greens), sometimes he will eat his fish/ meat cutlets; other times he rejects them.

Lucas loves bread so I have been giving him bread made with cereal. He also tried a chocolate muesli bar and loved it. Lucas loves hot chocolate, chocolate cereals, milk chocolate and chocolate crepe. His two favourite foods are chocolate and cheese. My worry is that he doesn't like vegetables or fruits, so I have had to sneak these foods into his regular meals. Sometimes it works, other times he totally rejects the food. Like the yoghurt and applesauce I sneaked into his milk - at least I know he has ingested some fruit and good bacteria. Another superfood that Lucas used to love but now refuses to touch is the avocado. I tried to serve it to him, mashed up with cereal, cut into small cubes, spread onto bread. He wanted none of it. Today was grilled cheese sandwich day - Lucas is slowly liking grilled cheese, taking more than 2 small pieces the last time. Today I sneakily spread some avocado onto the toasted bread and then melted cheese on top. Lucas ate 3 pieces before it dawned on him that mama added something into the bread :)

In my research on fussy toddlers, I found that many children have eating difficulties at some point between their second and sixth year. And I also found that although the fussy eater is a real worry to parents, in most cases, the child doesn't truly have an eating "problem".

Instead, what often seems to be a problem may be normal behavior for the child's age.
It's apparently perfectly normal for toddlers to suddenly decide they will only eat a certain foods and refuse everything else - even foods they loved yesterday. Lucas used to love pureed green peas - now he fastidiously picks them out from his fried rice and pasta. Toddlers may eat these same few foods over and over again at every meal, while turning up their noses at anything new.
"It's a fear of new things (sometimes called neophobia)," says Nancy Hudson, a registered dietician. "We think it's one of those quirks that humans probably developed to protect themselves as mankind evolved. You don't try new things because you don't know if they're safe."
Toddlers like things to be familiar, whether it's their bedtime routine or their cheese sandwich, so many won't try new foods until they've been exposed to them several times. Lucas is a stickler for routine and its true that he needs to be "exposed" to certain foods before he will even ask to try them - for now he continues to play with a banana but won't eat it. Its the same with the apple. He takes a small bite but spits it out after.

Picky eating can also be a child's way of exerting his independence ("You can't make me eat that") and may have less to do with the actual food than his need to push the limits of your authority and to assert some control over his life. This is why pressuring a child to eat often backfires. Finally, it may seem like your toddler cannot sit still long enough to eat very much at one sitting because of his short attention span. But children are generally good at getting what they need, even if it doesn't seem like much to you.
Here are some tried and tested tips on how to handle a picky eater:
• Provide a variety of nutritious foods for your child to eat at each meal. I make a "food calendar" every week for Lucas and I try to add something new for him, others are foods he will eat and some are foods that he has been introduced to but is not eating yet.
For example lunch today was grilled cheese sandwich with avocado. Tonight Lucas will have fried noodles with egg. (he is still not really eating the egg, but he loves noodles so I keep trying to add eggs into his rice or noodle dish)
Keep in mind that it takes multiple exposures to a new food for a child to see it as familiar and OK to try. So, be patient. When you do offer a new food, simply place it on the dinner table with everything else, and don't make a big fuss about it. Eventually, after he's seen you eat the food a few times, he may feel more open to trying it himself.

• Limit the options at mealtimes - do not be over enthusiastic and offer him a buffet spread! With Lucas I normally arrange his food separately on his plate i.e salad leaves & brocolli on its own at the side, sandwich in the center (he doesn't like his food all mixed up). At the most Lucas gets 3 different food choice (sometimes I add scrambled eggs or cheese)

• When introducing new foods, offer just one or two in small quantities.
Don't offer an entire meal of unfamiliar foods because your child simply won't eat them. Instead, offer a meal that includes at least one thing you know your child likes.
If by some miracle your child is willing to try a new food, give him just a taste before putting a whole serving on his plate. This way he won't feel overwhelmed - and it won't seem like a waste of food to you.

• Get your toddler involved in food shopping or cooking his meals.
This will give him a sense of control over his diet, and he'll be more likely to eat or try something that he's chosen for himself.
When Lucas & I baked a cake together or made salads, he will put the food in his mouth to try. He is still not eating the greens but he is no longer aversed to tasting the greens.

• As your toddler begins attending playgroup or nursery, his taste in foods might broaden as well. When he sees his friends eating new and different kinds of food, it might inspire him to eat new things, too. Lucas started eating crepe at the garderie and he drank OJ last week because his friends were all drinking OJ.

The babycenter experts say that every child has an innate sense of how much food his body needs to grow and be healthy, and it's his job to decide what he's going to eat. So, the best thing you as a parent can do is to provide a wide variety of healthy foods in a positive, relaxed environment so that mealtimes will be enjoyable for everyone involved.